# Ethereum Builds MEV Defenses Into the Protocol

Ethereum researchers keep moving front-running and sandwich-attack defense from private order-flow deals into protocol-level designs: encrypted mempools, transaction assertions signed by users, and accountability for decryption committees. Whether these get adopted will turn on committee trust and slashing design, and that will shape how much MEV validators and block builders can capture.

- Conviction: 24 / 100 (weakening)
- Horizon: Emerging (watchlist)
- Tracking since: 2026-10-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Last updated: 2026-10-12T14:07:13.213Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/crypto/trends/ethereum-mev-defense-moves-into-protocol
- Publisher: Polylog
- Affected regions: Global

## Recent score history

- 2026-10-11: 25
- 2026-10-12: 24

## Recent evidence

- [confirms] Ethereum Foundation researchers make the case for transaction assertions that revert any transaction whose final outcome breaks a rule the user signed (2026-10-06): Ethereum Foundation researchers argued for transaction assertions that revert any transaction whose final outcome breaks a rule the user signed. A separate Ethereum Research paper proposes a way to identify encrypted-mempool committee members who leak or sell decryption shares, a gap in the leading proposed defense against sandwich attacks.